Conventional Nursery :

• Selected soil should be worked well to break the clods and weeds, stones and stubbles should be removed
• Height of the raised bed should be 10-15 cm with a width of 1m and length may be according to the requirement and convenience
• Before preparing the bed, the soil should be drenched with 4% formaldehyde or 0.3% copper oxychloride to kill the pathogenic spores in the soil
• Nowadays solarization of nursery bed with white polythene sheet can check the nematode infection and weed growth
• Two parts of fine red earth, one part of sand and one part of FYM can be incorporated to each bed to improve aeration and fertility of the soil
• Lines are made on the nursery beds at 10-15 cm distance and line sowing is practiced
• After sowing the seeds are covered with fine sand or powdered FYM

Raised bed sowing

Protected nursery

• Prepare the nursery area of 3 cents with slanting slope of 2 % for the seedling production to cover 1 ha.
• Cover the nursery area with 50 % shade net and cover the sides using 40 / 50 mesh insect proof nylon net.
• Form raised beds of 1 m width and convenient length and place HDPV pipes at 2m interval for further protection with polythene sheets during rainy months.
• Mix sterilized cocopeat @ 300 kg with 5 kg neem cake along with Azospirillum and phosphobacteria each @ 1 kg.
• Approximately 1.2 kg of cocopeat is required for filling one protay. 300 protrays (98 cells) are required for the production of 29,000 seedlings, which are required for one hectare adopting a spacing of 90 x 60 x 45 cm in a paired row system.

Protray sowing

• Sow the treated seed in protrays @ 1 seed per cell.
• Cover the seed with cocopeat and keep the trays one above the other and cover with a polythene sheet till germination starts.
• After 6 days place the protrays with germinated seedlings individually on the raised beds inside the shade net.
• Water with rose can everyday upto seed germination. Drench with 19:19:19 @ 0.5% (5g/l) at 18 days after sowing.

Chilli seedlings in portrays